How Common is Your Blood Type?

Is Your Blood Type Common OR Rare?

The most commonly found blood type is O+.

The genes that you inherited from your parents determined your blood type. For example, if the mother has A- blood and the father has O+ blood, the child will have one of the following blood types: O+, A+, A- or O-. In my personal situation, I didn't realize that I had a rarer type than most individuals. My mom was A- and my dad, O+ - so I ended up with O- blood. This was discovered when I first volunteered to donate blood. The workers asked me if they could place me on an emergency call-list for the local children's hospital and I agreed.

But there are rarer blood types, those being B-. Only 2% of whites have this blood type. Even rarer is AB-. AB+ is also very rare. Note our chart below and see how blood types vary depending upon the ethnicity of the individuals. More Asians have AB+ blood types than any other ethnic group in our chart.

Blood Type

Whites

Blacks

Hispanic

Asian

O+

37%

47%

53%

39%

O-

8%

4%

4%

1%

A+

33%

24%

29%

27%

A-

7%

2%

2%

1.5%

B+

9%

18%

9%

25%

B-

2%

1%

1%

0.4%

AB+

3%

4%

2%

7%

AB-

1%

0.3%

0.2%

0.1%

What Type of Blood Does Your Body Require & Who Can You Donate Blood To?

There are three antigens where blood donation is involved. The first is red blood cells. The second is plasma donation and the third, the Rh factor.

O- is a universal donor for red blood cells. This is why the hospital asked me to be on their emergency list.

Type AB positive is a universal plasma donor.

Negative & Positive Blood Types

Negative blood types are noted as such: -

Positive blood types are noted as: +

So a B+ would mean: B Positive.

Generally speaking, Rh-negative blood is given to patients that are Rh-negative. Rh-positive blood or Rh-negative blood may be given to Rh-positive patients.